AA Award to Lima - 1 available, need 2 - other questions

Hi,

I'm having some brain-cramp issues coming up with the best strategy here and hope to find some advice. I am relatively new to International award travel, but our recent trip to England and Ireland mostly on rewards worked out splendidly!

I'm shopping, with award points, for flights next April into Lima, Peru. Ah, I was also hoping to use Avios when possible, as I have a boatload of these. There is a flight that would work perfectly (Business class), but only one award ticket is currently available.

Do I just book this and work on adding the second ticket over time? If no 2nd ticket award comes up later, use AnyTime miles to get the second? My first impulse was to wait, or look for different angles. However, not I think I should snag the one flight and work on filling in the blanks later. Opinions?

If I book on Avios and then later find a completely alternate plan, how refundable are these miles? I have a related question, but rather than make this longer than it already is, I'll start a different thread for this.

Thanks in advance.

 

Could you go to Cusco instead? It might open up more seats and with some programs actually cost less miles.

 

I would book the first award ticket ASAP. You can work on the second one over time.

 

Hold the reservation don't book it unless you want to go by yourself. If you're going AA you can hold it for several days.

 

WARNING! AA can't hold a reservation on LA.

They will usually tell you they are holding it, and then it goes away mysteriously.

 

I don't know the particulars of the previous poster but we have held seats on LAN. Do a screen capture?

 

I was told on the phone by two agents and a supervisor that they were unable to hold seats on LAN. YMMV.